In the middle of a day full of comings and goings and biffings and bangings Elwyn Watkins- the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate- turned up on the doorstep. I told him I'd voted for him in the General Election but wouldn't vote for him again on account of his party being in Coalition with the Tories. He said he was hearing that a lot, but I might like to consider that I'd be electing a constituency MP not a government in the by-election and he believed he'd proved himself to be "a scrapper". Finally we bonded over our shared distaste for the contemptible, race-card-playing Phil Woolas .